"How do translators convey the tone and flavour of a work in a foreign language while making it fully accessible to foreign readers? This is a question that many writers have addressed, all the while acknowledging that the skill of the translator might sometimes be acknowledged as almost equal to the art of the original author..."

"Huge linguistic and cultural ‘untranslatabilities’ exist between Burmese and English, but they should not spook the Burmese-English-Burmese translators. A good poem is always translatable. And, what is ‘translatable’ is entirely down to an individual translator inasmuch as what is ‘poem’ or what is ‘good.’ Always choose a translatable poem..."

Publishers and writers debate how to resurrect Burma’s great translation tradition...
"Although the days are long gone when Burma’s publishers could produce such politically charged works as George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” in the Burmese language, the country’s literati still dream of establishing a truly independent and effective translation society.
Orwell and other Western authors were translated into Burmese when the country had an active Translation Society, founded in 1947 by the country’s first prime minister, U Nu, who also worked as a translator for a time at Rangoon’s Judson College.
The Translation Society was renamed Sarpay Beikhman—“Building Great Literature”—in 1963, one year after the coup that brought Ne Win to power. But it has never lived up to its grandiose title.
Although Sarpay Beikhman hands out annual awards, few translators are honored. No translation prize at all was awarded in 2008..."